StartPage beats Google Search in test. Reason? Privacy

[CyberTech]

When you asked a representative number of Internet users about the search engine that they prefer, you'd probably end up with Google at the top as it is the most widely used search engine in the world (with the exception of some regions).

The result would be different if you'd ask a group of privacy conscious users. Back in 2013, I proclaimed that it was time to switch to the search engines DuckDuckGo or Startpage.

The German customer tests behemoth Stiftung Warentest tested search engines in its latest print issue and concluded that Google provided the best search results. Google's search engine did not come first though as it was surpassed by Startpage. The test focused on German language versions of search engines.

I bought the (German) test online to find out more about test criteria and how individual search engines fared in the test.

First, the basics: ten search engines were analyzed by Stiftung Warentest including Google Search, Bing, Qwant, DuckDuckGo, Startpage, and Yahoo Search. The testers analyzed the quality of search results, usability of the desktop and mobile website, and privacy.

The testers ran 50 searches on each search engine divided into 26 general searches, 8 trending searches, 8 image and 8 video searches. Searches included phrases with spelling mistakes and words with different meanings. Usability on desktop computers and mobile devices was analyzed next to that.

Search quality made up 60% of the score and usability 40%. Critical privacy issues, e.g. the sending of data irrelevant to searches on mobile devices, or issues in the privacy policy could impact the overall score negatively (but not positively).

The result

Startpage came in first with a grade of 2.3 (good) using a grading scheme that starts at 1.0. Google Search came in second with a score of 2.7 (satisfactory), followed by Ecosia with 2.8. Qwant managed to get a score of 3.2, Bing a 3.3 score, and DuckDuckGo a score of 3.7.

Looking just at the search related criteria, Google managed to beat all other search engines. Google Search scored best in search quality (1.9), desktop usability (0.9), and mobile usability (1.9). Startpage managed to get 2.5, 2.0 and 2.4 respectively in those categories.

What broke Google Searches' neck was the company's privacy policy and data sending, e.g. location-based data, of the company's mobile search experience which the testers found problematic.

DuckDuckGo users may wonder why DuckDuckGo came in second to last in the test. Search results and usability were not as good as Google's or Startpage's for the most part but not nearly as bad as the end score reflects. What broke DuckDuckGo's neck was the fact that its privacy policy was not available in German.

Closing Words
Privacy played an important part in the test; deficiencies cost Google Search the first place and pushed DuckDuckGo to the end of the listing. It would be interesting to see this test repeated for English results.

Startpage is my favorite search engine; it is not perfect, but it is my go-to search engine. I still have to use different search engines, e.g. Google Search, for some queries if Startpage does not return satisfactory results. Does not happen too often but it does happen.

Source

StartPage beats Google Search in test. Reason? Privacy - gHacks Tech News

The German customer tests behemoth Stiftung Warentest tested search engines in its latest print issue and concluded that Google provided the best search results.

www.ghacks.net

 

[rsonic]

I tried to change many times, but always ended back at Google. Maybe my searches are too niche? Maybe I am too imprecise?

 

[bribon77]

I used Startpage and DuckDuckGo. I liked Startpage more. But in the end I use Google

 

[gonzalo]

We are to lazy to change. Some people just dont care if their privacy is compromised or not. All they want is an easy, fast and reliable search engine.

 

[oldschool]

This article confirms my own experience with G, DDG and SP. I'm sold on Startpage as it's as good as G. DDG's search results didn't work well at all for me. I'm sold on Startpage. It has a bonus feature - nice homepage themes!

 

[TairikuOkami]

I used StartPage, till it started censoring searches, then I moved to DDG. I miss the option to filter results from the last year though.

Why doesn’t DuckDuckGo Search display the number of results?

Find answers to this and more DuckDuckGo frequently asked questions.

help.duckduckgo.com

• We try to be very exact based on what you type in, whereas other search engines often change your query around a bit. So that is the first thing to look at. That is, if you slightly change your query do you get more results?

 

[rsonic]

I used StartPage, till it started censoring searches, then I moved to DDG. I miss the option to filter results from the last year though.

How?

 

[SumTingWong]

I know DuckDuckGo but no Startpage.

 

[shmu26]

When you asked a representative number of Internet users about the search engine that they prefer, you'd probably end up with Google at the top as it is the most widely used search engine in the world (with the exception of some regions).

The result would be different if you'd ask a group of privacy conscious users. Back in 2013, I proclaimed that it was time to switch to the search engines DuckDuckGo or Startpage.

The German customer tests behemoth Stiftung Warentest tested search engines in its latest print issue and concluded that Google provided the best search results. Google's search engine did not come first though as it was surpassed by Startpage. The test focused on German language versions of search engines.

I bought the (German) test online to find out more about test criteria and how individual search engines fared in the test.

First, the basics: ten search engines were analyzed by Stiftung Warentest including Google Search, Bing, Qwant, DuckDuckGo, Startpage, and Yahoo Search. The testers analyzed the quality of search results, usability of the desktop and mobile website, and privacy.

The testers ran 50 searches on each search engine divided into 26 general searches, 8 trending searches, 8 image and 8 video searches. Searches included phrases with spelling mistakes and words with different meanings. Usability on desktop computers and mobile devices was analyzed next to that.

Search quality made up 60% of the score and usability 40%. Critical privacy issues, e.g. the sending of data irrelevant to searches on mobile devices, or issues in the privacy policy could impact the overall score negatively (but not positively).

The result

Startpage came in first with a grade of 2.3 (good) using a grading scheme that starts at 1.0. Google Search came in second with a score of 2.7 (satisfactory), followed by Ecosia with 2.8. Qwant managed to get a score of 3.2, Bing a 3.3 score, and DuckDuckGo a score of 3.7.

Looking just at the search related criteria, Google managed to beat all other search engines. Google Search scored best in search quality (1.9), desktop usability (0.9), and mobile usability (1.9). Startpage managed to get 2.5, 2.0 and 2.4 respectively in those categories.

What broke Google Searches' neck was the company's privacy policy and data sending, e.g. location-based data, of the company's mobile search experience which the testers found problematic.

DuckDuckGo users may wonder why DuckDuckGo came in second to last in the test. Search results and usability were not as good as Google's or Startpage's for the most part but not nearly as bad as the end score reflects. What broke DuckDuckGo's neck was the fact that its privacy policy was not available in German.

Closing Words
Privacy played an important part in the test; deficiencies cost Google Search the first place and pushed DuckDuckGo to the end of the listing. It would be interesting to see this test repeated for English results.

Startpage is my favorite search engine; it is not perfect, but it is my go-to search engine. I still have to use different search engines, e.g. Google Search, for some queries if Startpage does not return satisfactory results. Does not happen too often but it does happen.

Source

StartPage beats Google Search in test. Reason? Privacy - gHacks Tech News

The German customer tests behemoth Stiftung Warentest tested search engines in its latest print issue and concluded that Google provided the best search results.

www.ghacks.net

Thanks for the analysis. It was very helpful. So Google is still significantly better than the competition in finding what you were searching for. After all, that's why we use a search engine...

 

[SeriousHoax]

Actually, I like searx.me more than StartPage. Protect users privacy and can show results of multiple search engines. You customize it any way you want. Currently using this instance of searx searx as I like its default settings more.

 

[shmu26]

Actually, I like searx.me more than StartPage. Protect users privacy and can show results of multiple search engines. You customize it any way you want. Currently using this instance of searx searx as I like its default settings more.

Looks pretty interesting. Can you make it default search engine in Chrome?

 

[SeriousHoax]

Looks pretty interesting. Can you make it default search engine in Chrome?

I don't have Chrome installed at the moment so can't properly tell. But I think there's a way to manage search engines in Chrome and there should be an option to add search engine. Then type the name searx or anything you want in Keyword and in url type: https://search.disroot.org/search/?q=%s
This is the one I'm using at the moment, you can use the default searx.me or other public instances too. By this way you can add almost any website as a search engine.

 

[shmu26]

I don't have Chrome installed at the moment so can't properly tell. But I think there's a way to manage search engines in Chrome and there should be an option to add search engine. Then type the name searx or anything you want in Keyword and in url type: https://search.disroot.org/search/?q=%s
This is the one I'm using at the moment, you can use the default searx.me or other public instances too. By this way you can add almost any website as a search engine.

I tried, Chrome won't accept it. The FAQ page says that on Chrome, it uses the tool bar to perform a search.

 

[jogs]

My experience is that Google's results are much better than others. I have seen that a lot of times other engines showed less number of results but Google showed more, it just very good in digging out info from sites.
So, when you can't find some thing you're looking for on other engines you can try Google, but on day to day basis its better to use others or Google will dig into your searches.

 

[Arequire]

Looks pretty interesting. Can you make it default search engine in Chrome?

I tried, Chrome won't accept it. The FAQ page says that on Chrome, it uses the tool bar to perform a search.

Right click on the URL bar, click "edit search engines", scroll down to searx, click on the three dots next to it and click "make default".

 

[shmu26]

Right click on the URL bar, click "edit search engines", scroll down to searx, click on the three dots next to it and click "make default".

That's the problem. It doesn't get added to the list, and you can't add it manually.

 

[Arequire]

That's the problem. It doesn't get added to the list, and you can't add it manually.

That's weird. It should get added to the list automatically when you visit the site; it does for me using Brave.
See if you can find another Chrome user, ask them to browse to the site and see if it's in their list of search engines. If it's not there then it might be a Chrome related bug.

 

[oldschool]

That's the problem. It doesn't get added to the list, and you can't add it manually.

I had the same issue while I had Chrome installed on the new pc. Switched to Brave.